Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
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Disgust
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Fear
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Joy
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Sadness
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Language Tone
Analytical
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Confident
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Tentative
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Social Tone
Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Emotional Range
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Tone of specific sentences
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Anger
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Who do we hate?
Now, I know, that’s a harsh way to speak.
But really, do you or I hate anyone?
Do we strongly dislike anyone?
What about… (possibly a picture for each of these)
Bullies
Rich people
Poor people
Republicans (symbol)
Democrats (symbol)
Libertarians (symbol)
Socialists (symbol)
or what about people who look like...
(Chinese)
(Native American)
(African)
(Asian Indian)
(Caucasian)
(Latino)
(Middle Eastern)
Or what about people who like ...
the Dallas Cowboys, or
the Patriots, or
the 49ers (no - everybody likes 49er fans)
Baltimore Orioles
Washington Nationals
New York Yankees
New York Mets
Or what about people who worship differently than we do?
Catholics (picture of pope or cardinal)
Presbyterians (logo)
Methodists (logo)
Hindus (picture of worshipers or idol)
Jews (jewish star)
Muslims (mosque or someone in traditional islamic attire)
Atheists (logo or sign stating “there is no god”)
Have I stepped on every toe here?
We could go on and on about things that divide us.
We might state that we don’t hate anyone, but is that really true about the way that we live or about the people we hang out with?
During Jesus’ earthly ministry, he was constantly pushing people to look at their biases and prejudices.
He pushed against the tendency to ignore or ostracize people for a variety of reasons.
He was referred to as a glutton and drunkard because he chose to hang out with people who struggled with those vices.
He was called a friend of sinners because he invited dishonest (tax collectors) and sinful people (the adulterous woman) to follow him.
Jesus seemed to be in the business of breaking down bias barriers.
Today, as we consider Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman, we are going to look at the barriers he broke down and the result in her life and the life of the community.
In the passage that we read, Jesus has a very interesting conversation with this person.
While the conversation was enlightening and full of lessons to be learned, some of the unspoken parts of the conversation give us as much, or more, to learn from than what was spoken.
In this conversation, we learn that…
Jesus was not confined by the Cultural Barriers of His day.
He was more concerned with the truths of the Bible and the advancement of the Kingdom than he was with the man-made traditions that were put in place to keep people from sinning.
Jesus Broke Through Cultural Barriers
There are several things that Jesus does to reveal to us what he thought about the cultural barriers that permeated Hebrew culture in that day.
First of all, Jesus…
Walked through a defiled land (4)
If you were to look at a map, you’d be able to see Judea, Samaria, and Galilee all in a row, from south to north.
Jesus was down in Judea, probably in Jerusalem, and decided that he needed to go to Galilee.
So He heads north.
The challenge is that directly north of Judea is Samara.
The tension between Jews and Samaritans ran so deep that Jews, according to some scholars, would not enter Samaria for fear of becoming ceremonially unclean.
Many times, even though it was the quickest route between Galilee and Judea, some strict Jews would travel around Samaria in order to avoid this defiled land.
The region of Samaria was formed when the kingdom of Israel divided.
After Solomon, the people of the northern Kingdom (Samaria) decided to set up their own kings – often ungodly.
Because of this, their faith became watered down and even somewhat mixed with other religions.
Because of this, Samaritans and Jews disagreed with each other on issues of the faith.
In addition to walking through a defiled land, Jesus…
Talked to a woman (7)
“Some Jewish thought held that for a rabbi to talk much with a woman, even his own wife, was at best a waste of time and at worst of diversion from the study of Torah.”
(Carson, The Gospel According to John, p. 227)
Jesus clearly disregarded this cultural barrier in talking with her - which is why she responds to him by saying,
“How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?”
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .
More than just talking to any woman, Jesus talked to a woman…
... of a defiled race (7)
The Assyrians came and conquered the people of Samaria, the northern kingdom.
When they resettled the land, many Assyrians intermarried with Samaritans.
This caused many pure Jews to look down on the Samaritans.
According to the Bible Knowledge Commentary, there was a Rabbinic law that stated that “Samaritan women were considered as continually menstruating,” which essentially deemed them as permanently unclean.
Again, Jesus did not consider this cultural barrier worthy to be observed.
Jesus talked to this woman, of a defiled race, …
… and a defiled lifestyle (18)
For many strictly religious people, this woman would have been considered sinful because of the fact that she had been married so many times.
But it’s not only the religious people that treated her this way.
If you look in your bibles at - what time of day did Jesus meet up with this person?
Several of the commentators have pointed out that being in the middle of the day, this woman would have been coming to the well alone - because none of the other women would have wanted to be near her either.
Many women would have gone in groups at the beginning or end of the day.
She probably had a sort of reputation.
Sometimes those reputations are well-deserved.
Many times, those reputations are difficult to get rid of.
Which may be a bit why there is such harshness in her tone with Jesus.
Have you ever come across people who present a hardness in their personality?
I wonder if this woman had been hurt so many times by her former lovers that she presents this hard edge to her personality in order to drive people away - and yet Jesus looks right through that and engages her.
Several years ago, James Cameron (?) directed a movie entitled “Avatar.”
It was a fascinating science fiction movie about humans who were mining for a special resource on an alien planet.
This planet was occupied by a group of people called the Na’vi.
One of the things that we learn in the movie is that the Na’vi have a saying that implies understanding.
They would say “I see you.”
Not simply meaning that I have eyes and I can see that you are there, but I see YOU - who you are, I understand you, I know you.
Jesus, in this conversation seems to be communicating to this woman that he sees who she is, that she has value, that she has hurt.
He doesn’t really comment much on her lifestyle, but he offers her hope and a future.
(consider cutting out this next section)
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